Characters of Shakespeare's Plays
William Hazlitt
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
This famous Shakespearean exploration illuminates its plays through the frame of character, while also weighing theme, mood, structure and poetics. In it, 19th-century critic William Hazlitt unveils Shakespeare's genius in creating and infusing characters with a life-likeness that often challenges, if not overshadows, more material human nature -- in both inner and outer worlds. As he writes: "The characters breathe, move, and live, ... think and speak and act just as they might do, if left entirely to themselves." The first printing sold out in weeks, and the second sold briskly, until a harsh and antagonistic appraisal in The Quarterly Review quelled sales altogether -- and unraveled Hazlitt's critical cachet in the eyes of the general public. Not until the mid-twentieth century were Hazlitt and his works re-evaluated, when he was finally recognized as one of Shakespeare's foremost critics of all time. In literary criticism, the renowned Harold Bloom ranks Hazlitt second only to Dr. Johnson. - Summary by Nemo (10 hr 15 min)
Chapters
Introduction | 31:26 | Read by Nemo |
Preface | 27:15 | Read by Nemo |
Cymbeline | 19:01 | Read by Eva Davis |
Macbeth | 28:03 | Read by Eva Davis |
Julius Caesar | 15:10 | Read by Nemo |
Othello | 32:07 | Read by Eva Davis |
Timon of Athens | 10:53 | Read by Eva Davis |
Coriolanus | 26:02 | Read by Eva Davis |
Troilus and Cressida | 17:12 | Read by Eva Davis |
Antony and Cleopatra | 11:23 | Read by Eva Davis |
Hamlet | 18:42 | Read by Eva Davis |
The Tempest | 17:25 | Read by Eva Davis |
The Midsummer Night's Dream | 13:34 | Read by Eva Davis |
Romeo and Juliet | 30:34 | Read by Eva Davis |
Lear | 47:02 | Read by Eva Davis |
Richard II | 17:39 | Read by Nemo |
Henry IV in Two Parts | 27:25 | Read by Eva Davis |
Henry V | 20:34 | Read by Nemo |
Henry VI in Three Parts | 17:35 | Read by Nemo |
Richard III | 16:26 | Read by Nemo |
Henry VIII | 9:38 | Read by Nemo |
King John | 22:05 | Read by Eva Davis |
Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will | 14:32 | Read by Eva Davis |
The Two Gentlemen of Verona | 5:04 | Read by Eva Davis |
The Merchant of Venice | 14:20 | Read by Nemo |
The Winter's Tale | 13:04 | Read by Eva Davis |
All's Well That Ends Well | 8:08 | Read by Eva Davis |
Love's Labour's Lost | 7:00 | Read by Eva Davis |
Much Ado About Nothing | 9:27 | Read by Eva Davis |
As You Like It | 8:50 | Read by Eva Davis |
The Taming of the Shrew | 11:28 | Read by Eva Davis |
Measure for Measure | 10:41 | Read by Eva Davis |
The Merry Wives of Windsor | 4:54 | Read by Eva Davis |
The Comedy of Errors | 5:13 | Read by Eva Davis |
Doubtful Plays of Shakespeare | 15:10 | Read by Eva Davis |
Poems and Sonnets | 10:38 | Read by Eva Davis |